Free Order - District Court of California - California

Case 3:08-cv-00418-H-CAB

Document 9

Filed 05/07/2008

Page 1 of 1

MINUTES OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Case Name:

Diorio v. The Coca-Cola Company Ct. Deputy Lori Hernandez

Case Number: Rptr. Tape:

08cv0418-H (CAB)

Hon. Cathy Ann Bencivengo

On March 28, 2008, this Court issued a Notice and Order that an Early Neutral Evaluation Conference ("ENE") was scheduled for May 8, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. before the Honorable Cathy Ann Bencivengo. Today, on the eve of the scheduled conference, the Court received an "ex parte request" faxed to chambers, requesting that Plaintiff Michael Diorio be excused from personally appearing at the ENE. The request is DENIED. The March 28, 2008 Order ("Order") listed mandatory guidelines for the parties preparing for the ENE. In particular, the Order clearly stated that personal appearance of the parties is required. Quoting directly from the Order: "Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, persons required to attend the conference pursuant to this Order shall not be excused from personal attendance. Requests for excuse from attendance for extraordinary circumstances shall be made in writing at least 48 hours prior to the conference. Failure to appear at the ENE conference will be grounds for sanctions." [Doc. No. 4, at 2, emphasis in original.] Here, Plaintiff submitted his request after business hours on May 6, 2008, and the Court did not receive the request until the day before the scheduled conference. Plaintiff has also failed to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances in seeking to be excused. Accordingly, the request is DENIED. All parties and their counsel shall be present in person, and legally and factually prepared to discuss settlement of the case. Failure to appear at the ENE conference will be grounds for sanctions. In addition, the Order required the parties to submit confidential ENE statements directly to chambers, no later than 5 court days prior to the ENE. Counsel for Defendants submitted a timely statement on May 1, 2008. However, Counsel for Plaintiff failed to provide a statement until 6:02 p.m. on May 5, 2008. Thus, it was not received until two days before the scheduled conference. Furthermore, the required statement was not provided until after this Court called Counsel for Plaintiff to inquire as to whether a statement would be submitted. Counsel for Plaintiff never offered an excuse as to why they failed to submit a timely statement. Counsel for Plaintiff are admonished to carefully read and comply with this Court's orders in the future.

Date:

May 7, 2008 Initials: MA